Eight South American countries agreed at a summit in Brazil on Tuesday to launch an alliance to fight deforestation in the Amazon. The countries in the yet-to-be-formed alliance, all of which have parts of the Amazon within their borders, want to save the world’s largest rainforest.

“We have decided to create the Amazon Alliance to Combat Deforestation, with the aim of preventing the Amazon region from reaching a point of no return,” the countries said in a joint statement.

There are no concrete proposals

However, these countries did not submit concrete policy proposals to achieve these goals, but only committed to drawing up a ‘road map’ towards the realization of common goals. Obstacles faced include eradicating illegal gold mining and whether or not new oil and gas drilling is allowed in the area.

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In the latest joint statement, the so-called Belem Declaration, the countries committed to the rights and protection of indigenous peoples. It was also agreed to cooperate on water management, health, sustainable development and joint negotiating positions at climate summits.

First summit since 2009

The Amazon summit with South American leaders, held Friday in Belém, Brazil, is the first since 2009. The presidents of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia and Peru attended the summit, while Ecuador, Guyana, Suriname and Venezuela sent other top officials. .

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Brazilian President Luiz Inácio ‘Lula’ da Silva wants to show at the summit that his country is back ‘as a regional leader on climate’. Deforestation in the Amazon reached a record high during the reign of Lula’s predecessor, Jaïr Bolsonaro.

Rainforests are also called the ‘lungs of the earth’. Hundreds of billions of trees store about a quarter of all the CO2 on earth. Therefore, they are important for fighting global warming.

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